Ellington

Politics is on the minds and tongues of everyone these days. We have elections coming up Nov. 8, when Mississippians will vote on two hot-button topics: personhood and voter ID. Nationally, the Occupy Wall Street movement has spread all over the country. Everyone has a kind of opinion on what's going on, and for the first time in a while, I would argue that this country is at least beginning to engage in meaningful political discourse. With that in mind, I have created a non-exhaustive playlist of some of my favorite politically tinged tracks.

• Gil Scott-Heron, "The Revolution Will Not be Televised," Pieces of a Man (1971). This is an obvious choice, but it does take on new meaning when you consider this statistic: Only 51 percent of Americans are even aware of the "Occupy" protests, even though similar protests are going down in almost every state. Thanks to a complicit corporate media machine, Heron's words are even truer now, 40 years after he released the song.

• Genesis, "Land of Confusion," Invisible Touch (1986). Say what you will about Phil Collins in the '80s (for the record, I loved him), but he sang some prophetic words in 1986: "But I can hear the marching feet/They're moving into the street" and "I won't be coming home tonight/My generation will put it right/We're not just making promises/That we know we'll never keep."

• Bill Hicks, "Pro-Life," Rant in E Minor (1997). The first comedy interlude in our playlist finds Bill Hicks talking about abortion, a topic on the minds of Mississippians with a vote looming on Initiative 26, the Personhood initiative. Hicks sums it up best: "If you're so pro-life, do me a favor, don't block med clinics, OK? Lock arms and block cemeteries. Let's see how committed you are to this premise."

• Steel Pulse, "A Who Responsible?," True Democracy (1990). "Brothers and sisters, this plight we're facing/Get involved, problems to solve/Yourself concerning." Steel Pulse reminds us that the problems the world faces have a personal side, which demands action from individuals.

• Lee Dorsey, "Yes We Can," Yes We Can (1970). Dorsey makes it very simple for us: "Make this land a better land/Than the world in which we live/And help each man be a better man/With the kindness that we give." Seems so easy, but we make it so difficult.

• Richard Pryor, "Prison," Live in the Sunset Strip (1982). The second comedy interlude deals with one of the biggest socio-political issues facing this country: the Prison Industrial Complex, a structure that disproportionately ties up many young people of color in the correctional system. Pryor warned about this in 1982 with his visit to an Arizona State prison: "It was really strange because it's 80 percent black people in there. Why is that strange? Because there are no black people in Arizona."

• The Coup, "Breathing Apparatus," Steal This Album (1998). Lead rapper Boots Riley can best sum up the Coup's criticism of the medical industry: "My medical plan was to not get shot." Millions of Americans are no better off.

• Cage, "Grand Ol Party Crash (Featuring Jello Biafra)," Hell's Winter (2005). A hip-hop war-protest song with Dead Kennedy's front man Jello Biafra providing the voice of George W. Bush? What? The premise alone is worthy of admiration, but Cage also delivers with the lyrics: "If the opposite of pro is a con then look beyond this/The opposite of Congress must be progress."

Garrad Lee includes "Land of Confusion" on his political playlist.